What is an S170 heritage item, and how is one restored?

Many public buildings in NSW are owned by state government agencies. Railway stations, schools, courthouses and depots are examples. When one of those buildings has heritage value, it is often listed on the agency's own heritage register.

That register is known as an S170 register, after the section of the NSW Heritage Act 1977 that requires it.

What the register is

Section 170 of the Heritage Act requires each NSW government agency to keep a Heritage and Conservation Register of the heritage items it owns or manages.

The register sits with the agency, not with a council. Some items on it are also listed on the State Heritage Register, and some are not. Either way, an S170 listing tells everyone working on the asset that its heritage value has been recognised and has to be looked after.

What it means for building work

On an S170 item, the agency's heritage requirements shape the work from the start. The question is not only what needs fixing. It is how to fix it without losing what makes the place significant.

In practice, that leads to a few habits:

• Repair is preferred over replacement wherever the original material can be kept.
• New work is matched to the original in material, profile and finish, or is clearly new where that is the right approach.
• Original fabric found during the work is recorded and protected, not removed to save time.
• The method is agreed before work starts, because a heritage detail cannot be put back once it is lost.

Hazardous materials are part of the picture too. Older buildings often carry lead paint, and the safe way to deal with it on heritage fabric is covered in lead paint in heritage buildings.

Restoring a station that stays open

Monument holds Sydney Trains and Transport for NSW accreditation, obtained in 2016. That same year it carried out the S170 heritage restoration of Hawkesbury River Station.

Heritage work on an operating station adds the rail constraints on top of the heritage ones. Passengers keep using the station, work near the track happens in set windows, and the people on site need rail inductions. Those requirements are set out in what working on the Sydney Trains network requires.

Heritage skills carry across

The same balance of repair and modern standards applies to heritage schools and university buildings. Monument has done heritage restoration work at The Whitehouse Bar at the University of NSW, and refurbished toilet amenities at Concord Public School on a heritage building while respecting its heritage fabric.

How that balance is struck in schools and institutions is covered in how heritage school and institutional buildings are refurbished.

A question to ask early

Before a project on an older government building is scoped, it is worth checking whether the building is on the agency's S170 register. A listing that comes to light after the design is done means redesign, and one that comes to light after demolition is worse.

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